Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the public services card, PSC, is to enable individuals to gain access to public services more efficiently and with a minimal duplication of effort, while at the same time preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible. The purpose of SAFE 2 registration, underpinned by legislation, is to verify a person's identity to a substantial level of assurance. Once identity is verified, a public services card can be issued. My Department makes it clear to our customers that they need to complete a SAFE 2 registration to access, or continue to access, payments and entitlements. This is not an unreasonable condition given the value of payments made to customers and the overwhelming majority of customers have no difficulty in completing the process. I have no plans at this time to introduce any changes to the PSC other than those which are contained in the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017 which is coming before the House in an hour's time.

As part of the Department's commitment to ensuring data protection and confidentiality, all customer data is stored in its secure data centres which are subjected to regular security tests. Access to the data is restricted to those who have a business need.

All such accesses are logged and audited. All staff must, on an annual basis, sign undertakings that they will act in accordance with data protection policies and guidelines. Substantiated allegations of breaches of these policies could result in disciplinary action, including possible dismissal, legal action and possible claims for compensation by a customer.

The PSC is produced in a secure facility in Ireland and the data to produce it is immediately destroyed on card production, in accordance with the advice of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. The systems used in the card production are subjected to audit by external experts.

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